Tesla

Elon Musk has been having trouble building Model 3 electric cars. Also, he can't understand why his employees want to join a union. Seems like he's out of touch. The tech industry is supposed to be progressive and on the cutting edge. But the industry treats minorities and women badly and CEOs like Musk are in their own ivory tower and run their companies on statistics and their own controlling egos. If Musk wants to know how to build cars efficiently, he ought to get down on the factory floor and talk to his workers.

Housing

Cost of housing going through the roof, especially in the Bay Area and Portland and Seattle. Lots of ideas from affordable housing projects, auxiliary dwelling units, tiny houses and rent control. The tech industry is over-heated and thousands of high-paid young professionals are competing for limited housing, driving the price up. And getting new housing built takes awhile because it's a long process to get permits and there is a shortage of people to build the housing which drives up the cost of labor.

Bottom line is, restaurant workers, janitors, plumbers, etc., can't afford to live in the area. But those workers are still needed. So maybe when new companies build their plants, offices, hotels, etc., housing for the service workers will have to be included on site, and the cost of the housing will be picked up by the service companies or the companies contracting with the service companies.

Nazareth

For 33 years, Jesus of Nazareth did good. He helped alot of people and said alot of great things that are still helping people today. He could have hung out in the countryside helping people. But he got into that messianic fervor and got involved with the Temple politics and things got messy.

When people talk about Jesus of Nazareth, they concentrate on Jesus. But it would be neat to do a study on Nazareth, because the environment in Nazareth had to have a big effect on making him who he was.

De-centralized education

The board of directors of Marylhurst College, a small liberal arts college near Portland OR, voted to shut it down. The faculty said wait a minute. Lets explore all options, but board said no. Now's the time before the creditors come calling. The professors should just go it on their own. Just rent and office somewhere and put their shingle out. They could get together with other profs and students once a week at the meeting room of a pizza parlor. These big educational institutions are history. Schools from kindergarten on up. It would take away the targets for these wacko shooters. Everything needs to be de-centralized. Lean and efficient. Most things can be learned on line. The reason it hasn't happened yet is that the institutions want to keep their hand in the pie.

Trinity in different order

Most people think of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But I think of the Holy spirit as preeminent. I think the the Holy Spirit is that stardust DNA that ties everything in the Universe together. I look at God as a clearinghouse for prayer and a non-involved arbiter of conflicting interests. Like if one person wants to move a mountain here and another wants to move a mountain there, God makes the decision in the best interests of the whole universe. And I look at Jesus as a lens through which we can connect up to the power of the Holy spirit and use it in the wisest way.

Universe is the biggest church there is

I think maybe God is the vacuum of the universe. All the time quarks are popping in and out and eventually they form into dust and stars and galaxies. I think God's is our free will because you can't have both. In regards to the atonement, that Jesus died as a pure sacrifice for our sins, I don't think that is correct. The idea that God demands perfection doesn't match observations in the universe. Planets wobble, stars explode, and it seems like most of the advances of civilization come from making mistakes. How many times did Edison try before getting the light bulb to work? And when you think about it, if God demanded Jesus sacrifice, it's basically human sacrifice. That would be wrong if we did it so it doesn't make sense for God to do it. The last thing today is I don't believe in eternal life. Seems like the universe is all about death and rebirth. One generation takes over after your gone. I'm giving it my best and then I turn it over to the next people. I'm content to let my ashes nourish the soil for ground cover that gives off oxygen. I think with the last pulse of the heart, blood flows to the brain and that is when people in near death experiences see their life flash before them. I think most of this pulse ID probably shielded by the skull, but some gets transmitted out to the universe where maybe people can pick up on any good ideas the person had. I'm writing this as an intro to try to figure out how to keep young people involved in churches. Because most people these days don't go for worship and theology but I think are still interested in helping others through service projects. Seems like you could have churches without theology. Seems like you don't need to be baptized or recite a Creed. We are already part of the Universe, that is the only I.D. card we need.

Patrick Henry vs James Madison

At the Virginia convention to ratify the US Constitution, Patrick Henry made this statement in rebuttal to Madison's support of ratification:

Some way or other we must be a great and mighty empire; we must have an army, and a navy, and a number of things. When the American spirit was in its youth, the language of America was different. Liberty, Sir, was the primary object.... You make the citizens of this country agree to become the subjects of one great consolidated empire of America.... When I come to examine these features, Sir, they appear to me horribly frightful. Among other deformities it has an awful squinting; it squints toward monarchy.